Incoming email processing

FootPrints allows you to configure incoming email at both system and workspace levels. This topic describes how email messages are processed at the workspace level. For more information about system-level configuration, see Configuring incoming email for your system.

Workspace Administrators can allow agents and customers to create and edit tickets in the workspaces for which they are authorized. There is an option for allowing any user to edit tickets, and a Default User ID is provided for email addresses that cannot be identified by the system.

Tickets are always created from incoming email messages, even if no user or contact can be identified.

Workspace Administrators should configure a Default User for each workspace and assign it the appropriate role and permissions. The role and permissions assigned to this user ID are used to process incoming mail when no user is found with a matching email address.

The following topics are provided:

Permissions

The permissions function as follows.

Incoming email processing in production

In production, incoming email is processed as follows:

1. Identify Email Address:
   • For creating or editing tickets, from incoming email address.
   • For creating tickets, from incoming email address or, if the original From email address belongs to an agent, from an alternate submitter.
2. Search for a user with a matching email address:
   1. Identify the authorized workspace and ticket item:
      
      • From the email subject
      • Use defaults configured for the workspace and ticket item.
   2. If a matching user is found:
      • This user is identified as the Submitter.
      • This user's role and permissions for the workspace are used to process the email.
      • This user’s information is placed into the Created By and Updated By fields.
   3. If a matching user is not found:
      
      • No user is identified as the Submitter.
      • The roles and permissions assigned to the Default User for the workspace are used to process the email.
      • When creating tickets, the Created By and Updated By fields are left blank.
      • When updating tickets, only the Updated By fields are left blank.
3. If the ticket includes multiple email address fields, the identified email address is placed into the first email address field found.
4. The name and email address of the sender are placed in the Description field.

Process for finding contacts in linked address books

If a ticket includes a link to an address book, the system searches for a contact in that address book to link to the ticket. Address books are linked to workspaces when Workspace Administrators create Ticket/Contact type relationships for a ticket item.

For new tickets, the following steps are performed:

• If a Primary Key field is designated (usually the email address in the email), search for a matching contact.
  • If a matching contact is found, link it to the ticket.
  • If a matching contact is not found, an error message is generated.
• If a Primary Key field is not designated:
• The sender’s email address is used to search for a matching contact in the built-in Email Address field of the address book.
• If an alternate submitter is identified in the email, this information is used to search the address book.
• If a matching contact is found, the contact is linked to the ticket.
• If a matching contact is not found:
  • No link is created.
  • The ticket is created without contact information.

For updates to existing tickets, the following steps are performed:

• The system does not use the incoming email address to search for contacts.
• If a Primary Key field is designated, search for a matching contact.
  • If a matching contact is found, the contact is linked to the ticket and the existing contact information is replaced.
  • If a matching contact is not found, the contact information is not added or changed.
• If a Primary Key field is not designated, the contact information is not added or changed.

Related topics

Configuring incoming email for workspaces

Configuring email for your system